Posted Jan 20, 2003 by Crazy Mike
I know I only did GCSE History, but I was always led to believe that although Bolshevik means 'majority' and Menshevik means 'minority', the Bolsheviks were actually the smaller group, believing as they did in revolution by a small number of dedicated followers, while the Mensheviks followed the more traditional Communist path, advocating a revoulution by the proletartiat (although I've probably spelt that wrong. Shouldn't try and look clever, should I?). It's a fairly minor point, but I'd always thought that was the case.
Feel free to prove me wrong!
Crazy 
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Posted Jul 9, 2003 by capn petey
No that majoriy/minority sounds aboot right, With Trotsky being the leader of the Mensheviks(Minority), even though it had larger numbers before the 1917 Revolution in the Duma.
Although ive probly gotten something muddled up, just had some bad cheese in a sandwhich, no that best for the brain you know.
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Posted Jan 3, 2004 by Jagged Jack
The differences between the Bolsheviks and Menshiviks are quite fundamental. The Bolsheviks were Marxist revolutionaries who believed in the complete overthrow of the current economic and political system. This was to be replaced in the interim by a workers state made up of 'Soviets'. Soviets meaning workers councils. The Bolsheviks, including Lenin and Trotsky believed wholeheartedly in a phrase used by Karl Marx and Freiderick Engels in the Communist Manifesto - "The emancipation of the Proletariat(Working Class), is the act of the Proletariat". By this they meant only a revolution led by the vast majority of working class people could free the working class. The Menshiviks on the other hand were 'Reformists'. They believed the current economic and political system could be reformed for the better of everyone by a small group of people such as themselves. What the Menshiviks hoped to achieve was a Parlimentry Democracy (or what the Bolsheviks refer to as Bourgois Democracy) very similar to the kind of political system we have now. Menshivik does mean majority but this refers to a split in The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (R.S.D.L.P) of 1903, which in turn created the Bolshevik and Menshivik parties. I suggest the author of this article (and anyone else interested in history) read Trotskys History of the Russian Revolution and any number of other Russian Revolutionary texts as this article is wholly innacurate.
By the way - Trotsky was actually a Bolshevik at the time of the October revolution.
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Posted Jan 4, 2004 by Jagged Jack
Sorry - Menshevik means minority.
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